Dear Editor,
The Progressive Liberal Party government's plan to legalize marijuana will have dire political and spiritual consequences for The Bahamas moving forward.
Political strategists within the PLP are making a grave miscalculation in thinking that the party will woo more supporters with this proposed legislation.
This reminds me of the People's National Party government in Jamaica that legalized marijuana in 2015 in an effort to capitulate to the Rastafarians.
That party would end up losing the government in 2016 to the Jamaica Labour Party. The JLP would then reach out to the Rastafarians in April 2017 when Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued an official apology to them in Parliament for the 1963 Coral Gardens Massacre under then Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante.
With the PLP's cannabis draft bills set to go to Parliament in the coming weeks, it is giving off the appearance that the PLP is capitulating to Rastafarians, most notably the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress (EABIC), while ignoring the concerns of the church.
Some years back, a leading member of the EABIC estimated to The Tribune that there were approximately 10,000 Rastafarians in The Bahamas.
Well, one can assume that the Christian community has at least 200,000 churchgoers — 20 times the size of the Rasta population. Yet the PLP is listening to this small minority, while playing tone deaf to the majority.
The proposed marijuana legislation will cause an uptick in Rastafarian false conversions, as the religious use license will be a pretext to engage in the recreational use of weed.
The powers-that-be and law enforcement officials will have no way of differentiating a true Rasta from a false one.
Even in Jamaica, vintage Rastafarians have complained about the prevalence of Natty Dreads masquerading as bonafide Rastafari adherents.
This law will be abused.
Moreover, I took note of a Bobo Ashanti representative complaining to The Tribune that members of his mansion, which represents about 80 percent of the Rastafarian population in The Bahamas, do not smoke weed at their places of worship.
What this complaint suggests is that Rastafarians want to be able to smoke weed in the comfort of their own homes.
Sacramental weed will inevitably lead to the decriminalization of recreational weed. This law is a step in that direction.
The PLP is pandering to a small group who will have virtually no impact in the upcoming general election.
In fact, Rastafarians don't vote, especially after their Jamaican counterparts complained about being hoodwinked by the late Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in the lead-up to the 1972 general election in Jamaica, coupled with the aforementioned 1963 Coral Gardens Incident and the 1966 destruction of Back-O-Wall by JLP Cabinet Minister Edward Seaga.
Back-O-Wall's demolition is of particular interest to Bahamian Bobo Ashanti members, as EABIC founder Charles Emmanuel Edwards and his group were headquartered there. They were forced to relocate by the state.
Bull Bay would become their new headquarters, while Back-O-Wall was transformed into a housing community named Tivoli Gardens.
This West Kingston area was a JLP political garrison that made Seaga virtually unbeatable in general elections as MP.
Christians, on the other hand, are civic minded citizens who are actively engaged in the political process, in obedience to the Word of God to render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar.
While Bobo Ashanti members and other Rastafarians call down judgment on the "Babylonian" state, Christians honor and pray for their civil leaders, as mandated by the Word of God (1 Peter 2:17; 1 Timothy 2:1-2).
I feel as if the Davis administration is facing its own Mount Carmel opportunity before the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as was Israel under the disastrous administration of King Ahab and his wife Queen Jezebel.
In 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah the prophet issued to the backslidden covenant community an ultimatum: Either Israel serve the Yahweh or Baal!
The Davis administration has been faced with somewhat of a similar spiritual ultimatum, this time between the God of the Bible and the Rastafarian god, Haile Selassie I.
If the PLP government goes through with this weed legislation, then the church has every right to assume that the PLP has tacitly embraced the Rastafarian faith.
Under such a scenario, the PLP government should then engage EABIC priests as House of Assembly chaplains, rather than Christian clergymen, as has been traditionally practiced.
State funerals and ecumenical services, such as the recent 50th Bahamian independence event on Clifford Park, should be conducted by Rastafarian priests.
If the PLP government is going to pander to the Rastafarians, then it might as well go all the way.
Satire aside, the Davis administration should rethink its plans before it ends up causing a rift between it and the Christian community.
Under no circumstances will the Christian church condone the use of sacramental weed by Rastafarians.
— Kevin Evans
The post The PLP govt is capitulating to Rastafarians while ignoring the church appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
